"Quite a harvest! This battle was fought beautifully."
The panicked Ronan didn't look closely to see if it was Thanos attacking, but he assumed it was. After all, he had already had a falling out with Thanos and thought Thanos was coming to snatch the Infinity Stone. If Artoria knew what Ronan was thinking, she would probably laugh out loud. Self-conceived notions are the most lethal. Having collected several hundred saint quartz fragments, the drop rate was much more generous than those Chitauri foot soldiers from the Battle of New York. This battle wasn't fought in vain, and Artoria praised Saturday without stinting.
"Thank you for the evaluation, master, but our energy consumption this time was a bit high."
Although Saturday was happy with Artoria's praise, the cute little Hatsune on the screen frowned and pointed at the energy bar, which had already dropped by twenty percent. The energy consumption of the hyperion was indeed a major issue. Normal flight and jumping were fine, but once combat was involved, the energy bar dropped as quickly as if it were evaporating. It really made the computer overheat.
"I understand. When necessary, use the backup energy!"
Artoria had already thought about Saturday's problem. In fact, although this hyperion had been modified, the old energy pool was still there. That is to say, the honkai reactor was still installed on the hyperion. Initially, Artoria had Hope research honkai energy, but the results weren't ideal. Artoria could only use this honkai reactor as backup energy because Hope had warned her that this thing was extremely dangerous, as if it had its own consciousness. However, its consciousness was very chaotic and it liked to seep into living organisms. Once fused with a living organism, bad things would happen.
Artoria understood perfectly what Hope meant—wasn't it just Honkai Beasts? She used to beat them until they called her 'Daddy.' But in this setting, this stuff was really disgusting. She could only follow Hope's advice and add three layers of protection to the honkai reactor to prevent leaks, absolutely refusing to use it unless it was a moment of crisis.
"Speaking of Honkai, then that artificial retard... oh no! The artificial intelligence Ai-chan actually isn't in the hyperion. That's truly great. What a relief she's not here."
Looking at Saturday, Artoria finally remembered that crystal-scamming artificial intelligence (retard). After obtaining the hyperion, various inspections showed no trace of that artificial... intelligence. So Artoria could let Saturday take Ai-chan's place without any guilt. After all, her own AI was the reliable one. That artificial retard from over a thousand years ago could only be a scammer, and she even scammed crystals along with the 'world's most cute' Durandal. She really wanted to see how Judah launched Durandal; that way, she might be able to vent some of the resentment from her past life.
"master, what are you saying?"
Checking if the gun ports were normal once more, Saturday looked at her master, whose expression was shifting between light and dark, and asked with concern. They were in outer space; could it be that the master had encountered something that made her feel unwell? But through the optical fiber scan and the bracelet worn by the Master, her physical condition could be monitored. Everything was healthy, and there were no problems. What was going on?
"It's nothing! Saturday, is our current energy enough for us to return to Earth?"
After hearing Saturday's words, Artoria awkwardly changed the subject. This was bad—seeing Saturday made her think of that artificial retard Ai-chan. It was really a bit unfair to her capable and smart AI butler. But there was just that feeling. Forget it, she hoped her Saturday wouldn't learn any strange things and become a joker or a retard later on; that would be bad.
"Please rest assured on that point, master. Passing through spatial points doesn't require much energy output; the consumption is relatively low. If your body can fully withstand the blood acceleration caused by five hundred spatial node jumps, then we can return to Earth within at least twelve hours."
Saturday gave a conservative estimate. After all, the ship's durability was also an issue. If the ship were made entirely of Adamantium, there would be no problem at all; it would just be hard on the people on board. Once a normal person passed through five spatial points consecutively, the excessive speed would cause the blood in their entire body to flow back toward the brain, and their head would be crushed in an instant. That was the problem Saturday mentioned.
"Alright! I understand."
Regarding Saturday's words, Artoria indicated she understood. She had a good idea of her own limits now. After all, if she couldn't win and needed to run, she needed to know how fast she could run home. As for the physical issue Saturday mentioned—were you talking about physical fitness to a Humanoid Red Dragon? That was simply a joke.
"master, there is an unknown signal requesting a connection. Should we connect with them?"
While she was considering whether or not to fire a shot, Saturday suddenly said someone was inviting them to talk. Through the screen, Artoria could see a small spaceship quietly waiting for her reply quite far away from the hyperion. It seemed to be a fairly polite fellow.
"Connect them! Saturday, watch their movements. If there's any unusual activity, destroy them immediately."
"Yes, master."
Artoria decisively gave the order. One didn't joke around in the Universe; most people were not kind-hearted. If one wasn't careful, they could fail in an easy task. By then, regret would be too late, and one would just have to accept it. Artoria had Saturday connect the other party's signal, and a small black screen appeared before her. Soon, a familiar green face gave Artoria a start.
"So this ship is yours!"
Compared to Artoria, Gamora's expression was also surprised. This woman, whom she was meeting for the third time including the two previous encounters, truly made her curious. She seemed full of mystery. At first, there was no time to interact, but this meeting felt more like fate—at least, that's what Gamora thought. She hadn't expected the other party to be the savior who had rescued them. Meanwhile, Artoria was surprised because it was the first time she had seen the Guardians of the Galaxy's ship; she hadn't recognized it and hadn't expected them to come looking for her.
"Hi! You beautiful little lady, we need your help right now. Shall we talk?"
Gamora was about to talk to Artoria about cooperation, but Rocket was clearly not the patient type. Its furry face crowded in front of the screen. It started with compliments and praise, but the words coming out of its mouth sounded more like an old hooligan trying to pick up a beautiful woman.
"Sure!"
Artoria readily agreed to the Guardians of the Galaxy's invitation. While the Guardians successfully made contact with Artoria on this side, on the other side, Ronan, who had successfully 'escaped,' looked excitedly at the Cosmic Orb in his hand. This time, he would definitely be able to completely destroy that eyesore, Xandar.
"Director, we've caught an infiltrator. Would you like to interrogate them?"
"Bring them to me. I want to see exactly who dares to come here."
Hearing his subordinate's words, Ronan spoke angrily. It had always been his Kree people attacking others; this time was truly suffocating. Having been chased off the battlefield by Thanos, now someone else had infiltrated their warship—they were simply courting death. A moment later, a semi-cyborg appeared before Ronan, much to his surprise. This person was none other than Thanos's second daughter, 'Nebula'. Thanos was pushing things too far; after attacking him, he actually sent his daughter to assassinate him. It was utterly excessive.
Ronan, who seemed to have a screw loose somewhere, went through another bout of overthinking, acting as if there were always bastards trying to destroy his empire.
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